Palin's Book-banning Efforts, Redux

[smb]

Source: CBS

...Yesterday, ABC News' Brian Ross moved the ball forward a bit, with an interesting report.

Ross emphasized an angle I previously hadn't heard much about. Palin was elected mayor thanks in large part to the strong backing of her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, which, right around the time Palin took office, "began to focus on certain books available in local stores and in the town library, including one called 'Go Ask Alice,' and another one written by a local pastor, Howard Bess, called 'Pastor, I am Gay.'"

Palin became mayor, her church was interested in censorship, and soon after, Palin asked a "rhetorical" question about how books might be excluded from the public library. When the librarian resisted, she was, at least initially, fired.

The line from the McCain campaign has been that Palin never had any interest whatsoever in banning library books. That seems increasingly difficult to believe.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/11/politics/animal/main4439414.shtml

[Zuiderelle]

1. And this is why that bogus list was circulated to make the whole story seem false. This is the dirt.

So, a governor of one of our states was pressured by her local church to find out what the reaction would be if one was to want to ban certain books, because they, the church, wanted to ban a couple of gay-themed books. And then she FIRED the librarian when the librarian gave her the correct answer that she would not ban anything, then hired her back only because she was pressured by public outcry to do so.

Fuck. As if Bush wasn't bad enough, this woman would send us back centuries.

We need to get this info out there. This should offend ANY American who believes in the principles of our democracy and freedom.

[yardwork]

9. That's correct. Typical Rove-style strategy. See Dan Rather.

The dirty trick goes like this:

1. Identify an incident or issue that is potentially damaging to your candidate.
2. Make up a lie (faked document, internet rumor, etc.) that is similar to the actual issue.
3. Put the fake material out as bait and have operatives standing by to pounce on it.
4. When the fake material is broadcast, pounce on it. "It's fake!" Express outrage and indignation.
5. Confused public assumes that the whole issue is fake and stops looking at it.
6. Candidate gets away with murder or fraud or intimidation or being AWOL or whatever it is they actually did.

[rucognizant]

18. Some REALLY

UGLY people camped out at twing above" Real christofaaschist Palin drones!

[olegramps]

2. She has to be exposed and stopped

If she should get into the White House it would be a disaster for the nation. This person and her entire family are dysfunctional, holy rolling idiots. I despise McCain for what he is doing as much as I despise Bush for what he has done to our nation.

[Mike Daniels]

3. Shouldn't be hard to create an ad that uses the news report for back-up

Same thing with her abortion record.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. We were required to read "Go Ask Alice" in high school - 35 years ago.

[Sequoia]

5. That's an old book. I had no idea.

[FatDave]

7. No shit, so were we.

It was an anti-drug book, though I never really bought that it was real as advertised.

On edit: Hey, guess my bullshit detector was functioning well even at 16. Looked it up out of curisoity, and sure enough. Bullshit.

[yardwork]

10. Written by a Mormon who pretended to have "found" the diaries.

[foxer]

16. Please recalibrate BS detector to detect Mooseshit too.

[noonwitch]

12. My mom made me take it back to the library when I checked it out

I was about 8, though, and really was too young to be reading it. I read it anyways, on a hot day when I was hiding from my brother at the air-conditioned library.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. ABC made a pretty bad adaptation Movie of the Week version of GAA.

McKenzie Phillips had a cameo in it.

[Plucketeer]

6. Where IS the outrage

on all these LIES???

[nyhuskyfan]

8. They don't even understand the word rhetorical

A rhetorical question is not meant to be answered. "Are you insane?", for example, isn't typically a question that requires answering.

"Would you ban books?" is - in fact - clearly requiring an answer. The question could be hypothetical, but in this case, I don't think so. I think it was clearly laying down the ground work for an agenda.

[Zuiderelle]

15. Yeah, that stuck out. Since they have rhetorical in quotes, was it Sarah who used that word?

[nyhuskyfan]

17. I think it was a campaign spokesperson

But I can't recall for sure. It was definitely a quote or a statement about it.

[lilyannerose]

11. Obviously,

The church launched here into the mayor's office in order to work god's -- oh I'm sorry - the church's will.

[Blackhatjack]

13. This is the way to get to the truth of the matter...

A good investigative reporter knows that a frontal attack that demands an admission will usually get a 'no comment' from the key sources with knowledge.

In this case, the reporter should go to the Church's leaders and make the following request.

'I understand that your Church has no interest in trying to restrict the sale and distribution of reading material which promotes gay issues and lifestyles, even though you do not support gay marriage. That is correct, right?'

Then sit back and allow the individuals to explain their position.

Once you have the Church's position enunciated, ask if Palin as a member ever stated she supported the Church's position?